A carriage horse died in Central Park, reigniting calls to end a New York tradition
City council members have introduced competing legislation prohibiting the rides or increasing protections for the animals.
A horse-drawn carriage in Central Park. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
On June 11, city council member Christopher Marte introduced the latest version of Ryder’s Law, which a predecessor first drafted four years ago. Under the bill, the city would no longer issue new carriage licenses, freezing the current number of “medallions” at 68, and phase out the rides over two years. A union representing carriage owners and drivers, meanwhile, is backing a separate measure that bolsters protections for the animals while safeguarding the workers’ livelihoods.
Marte said Ryder’s Law includes provisions to help the drivers and owners impacted by the ban, providing them with training and assistance in securing “suitable jobs.” (An earlier version of the bill recommended replacing the equine-drawn vehicles with electric carriages.) The roughly 200 horses, meanwhile, would be rehomed in “a more natural location,” he said, such as a sanctuary. When not pulling passengers around Central Park, the horses reside in private stables on the West Side of Manhattan or farms outside the city, depending on their work schedule.
“I think we have a lot of momentum and a lot of wind in our sails,” said Marte, who represents Lower Manhattan. “We’re going to continue to work to really end this inhumane practice that should no longer exist.”
As an alternative to Ryder’s Law, Queens council member James Gennaro submitted the Horse Welfare and Job Protection Act to the council on June 11. The Transport Workers Union of America, which represents 150 drivers and owners, a fraction of its 165,000 members, supports the bill.
“We’re recommending better training and tougher examinations where the new applicants have to have a real proficiency of hitching and street safety protocols, tougher than the system now in place,” said TWU International president John Samuelsen.
Since its 2022 introduction, Ryder’s Law has received a swell of support from local and national animal welfare groups; NYC legislators, including former mayor Eric Adams; and a slew of celebrities such as Billie Eilish, Ricky Gervais, Marisa Tomei and Christopher Walken.
“We would love an all-out ban,” said Julie Cappiello, president of the Brooklyn-based Voters for Animal Rights. “New York City is no place for a horse, especially in New York City traffic.”
The measure is named after an elderly, emaciated and ailing horse that was euthanized weeks after he crumpled to the ground in Hell’s Kitchen in August 2022. Last year, the driver was found not guilty of animal abuse.
After Deniz’s death, the Central Park Conservancy, which manages the 843-acre public space, released a statement supporting Ryder’s Law, citing public safety concerns.
“In the past year, New Yorkers have witnessed at least seven separate incidents in which horses became spooked and either broke free — posing danger to passengers, park-goers, and others — or caused injury to their drivers, or, now, collapsed and died on Central Park’s Drives,” the conservancy stated. “It’s time to end this practice.”
Unrelatedly, two days after Deniz’s death, Philadelphia outlawed horse-drawn carriages.
Horse-drawn carriages were part of Central Park’s original 19th-century design. According to the conservancy, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux fashioned a “circulation system” for their era’s primary modes of transportation — hooves and feet
Early in its founding in New York City in 1866, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals advocated for the city’s horses, rallying against overloading the horse carts and supplying the animals with drinking water.
Today the carriages are no longer a necessity but an indulgence aimed at tourists. And while the horses primarily give rides within the confines of Central Park and the surrounding area, including Times Square, the commute from their stables can require a mile-long walk on busy midtown streets.
“This a situation more befitting of 1776, not 2026,” said Brian Shapiro, New York state director at Humane World for Animals.
According to Shapiro, at least four carriage horses have died since 2020, including Lady in 2025 and Aisha in 2020. Many more have been involved in accidents. In May, a frightened horse rammed into another carriage, causing the vehicle to flip over, injuring the driver. The horses have also crashed into parked and moving cars, and one alarmed equine bolted with no driver at the reins. The passengers had to self-eject from the speeding cab.
“A horse is a fight-or-flight creature,” Shapiro said. “They are easily spooked, and this is one of the reasons why we see these collisions happening.”
New York City’s Office of Veterinary Public Health Services, which operates under the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, regulates the working conditions of the carriage horses. The New York City Police Department, sometimes patrolling on horseback, enforces the rules, such as ensuring that the horses are not working in temperatures that exceed 89 degrees in the summer or drop below 18 degrees in the winter.
The directive also limits the horses’ workday to nine hours per 24-hour period. Every year, they must receive at least five weeks of vacation. A veterinarian examines the horses every four to eight months on top of an annual check-up.
In Deniz’s case, the Transport Workers Union said a veterinarian with the NYPD Mounted Police Unit examined the horse in March and declared him fit to work. The organization said Kirbiyik, who spent 10 years alongside Deniz, had not noticed any signs of illness and was shocked by his sudden and inexplicable death. The corpse was shipped to Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, which will administer a necropsy to determine the cause of death.
The union supplements the regulations with a few measures of its own. For instance, its safety committee will investigate any welfare reports and consult with a veterinarian about health concerns.
The workers’ group opposes Ryder’s Law, which will sever the main income source for many of the heavily immigrant owners and drivers. It is pushing for greater oversight by NYC officials, instead.
“The city has a very extensive set of rules and regulations. Can it do more? Absolutely,” Samuelsen said. “It took us years just to get the city to install an additional water trough for the horses in the park. One of the horse-carriage stands needs more shade, and there aren’t enough sanctioned parking spots in the park for the 68 carriages.”
The union-backed legislation introduced by Gennaro would enhance protections for the horses, such as requiring the Rental Horse Advisory Board “to study and make recommendations on conditions for horse-drawn carriages” and creating an “annual survey” on installing hitching posts, which could prevent the horses from dashing off. It would also extend the starting hours to earlier in the morning, so the animals can take advantage of the cooler temperatures.
Cappiello, who invites the union to collaborate on a compromise, is watching both bills to see which one will cross the finish line.
During a press conference the day after Deniz’s death, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he supported removing the horse carriages from Central Park and would work with the union and the community to achieve this goal.
“I think in Central Park what we’ve seen is a lot of concern about the welfare of these horses, and I want to figure out a way for us to actually get to the end of that path,” Mamdani said.
